Latest
At this salon, services inflation is proving hard to trim
The average price of hairdressing and personal grooming services increased by 6.7 per cent last year. At one Sydney salon, it means a shampoo, cut and blow dry will cost $200 from next week.
- Ronald Mizen
- Updated
- Interest rates
Chalmers resists RBA rates risks
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has resisted predictions from economists that strong inflation data will force the RBA to raise the cash rate up to two more times.
- Updated
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Tax reform
All roads lead to a tax shake up after EV ruling
The High Court’s decision banning Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has parallels to how the GST came about.
- John Kehoe
The map that shows Australia’s nine most important allies
The long list of alliances that Australia has joined in recent years is dizzying. Our international editor James Curran untangles the alphabet soup of acronyms and ranks them by importance.
- James Curran and Les Hewitt
How mass migration could spread the Israel-Hamas war to Europe
A failure to integrate migrant communities from the Middle East has led to parallel societies.
- James Crisp
Renters better off than in 2021: RBA’s Bullock
Strong income growth has shielded households without a mortgage from the worst of the cost-of-living crunch, the bank’s new governor says in her first speech.
- Michael Read and John Kehoe
Opinion & Analysis
Pay households and they will use energy wisely
If you offer money to householders to provide power at certain times or to reduce demand, they will happily do it – provided it isn’t just a pea and thimble trick.
Researcher
RBA must show independence on material inflation risk
The Treasurer’s pre-emptive insistence makes it even more important that the new governor and her board actively demonstrate the central bank’s political independence.
Editorial
What 680,000 toy cars tell you about interest rate pain
Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says mortgagees and renters are hurting. But Wednesday’s inflation surprise leaves the RBA facing the prospect of lifting rates several times.
Columnist
Bill Hayden’s foreign policy was his finest hour
Former Labor leader Bill Hayden’s 1983 ANZUS review preserved the alliance, but he despised craven and servile pandering to Washington
International Editor
More From Today
- Opinion
- Electricity
Pay households and they will use energy wisely
If you offer money to householders to provide power at certain times or to reduce demand, they will happily do it – provided it isn’t just a pea and thimble trick.
- Tristan Edis
Yesterday
- Opinion
- The AFR View
RBA must show independence on material inflation risk
The Treasurer’s pre-emptive insistence makes it even more important that the new governor and her board actively demonstrate the central bank’s political independence.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
What 680,000 toy cars tell you about interest rate pain
Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says mortgagees and renters are hurting. But Wednesday’s inflation surprise leaves the RBA facing the prospect of lifting rates several times.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Bill Hayden’s foreign policy was his finest hour
Former Labor leader Bill Hayden’s 1983 ANZUS review preserved the alliance, but he despised craven and servile pandering to Washington
- James Curran
- Opinion
- Inflation
Inflation boosts chances of Cup Day interest rate rise
The jump in underlying inflation will be extremely hard for Michele Bullock to ignore as she tries to shore up the RBA’s credibility.
- John Kehoe
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Max Corden: Vale Australia’s prophet of prosperity
Max Corden established the intellectual, but then politically heretical, case for dismantling Australia’s protectionist tariff wall.
- The AFR View
See which super funds rate the worst for retirement
Regulators have criticised the super industry for largely ignoring a new obligation to help members prepare for retirement.
- Hannah Wootton and Joanna Mather
Demand for fossil fuels will peak by 2030: global energy body
The IEA’s annual report warns that avoiding catastrophic climate change requires a 30 per cent cut in extraction of oil and gas by 2030.
- Jacob Greber
- Opinion
- South China Sea
Australia cannot stay silent on China’s bullying of the Philippines
The latest maritime incident in the South China Sea warrants an unequivocal statement on escalating aggression and following through on promised joint patrols.
- Jennifer Parker
Ballooning debt could ‘come to a head’: Hockey
The former treasurer and ambassador to Washington worries that lax, spendthrift populism could turn unsustainable debt burdens into a default crisis.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Sponsored
- Accenture
Collective action crucial to drive systems-wide change to cut emissions
The 1.5 degree threshold, laid out in the Paris Agreement signed in 2016 was earmarked as “the key tipping point” for climate change globally.
Sponsored
by Accenture
Smart ways to get the most out of your solar
Homeowners are using tips and tricks to shift as much of their power usage as possible to solar.
- Christopher Niesche
The final stop before landfill: waste-to-energy plants
With the right technology, sewage sludge, abattoir and household waste can all be converted into energy or usable products.
- Sian Powell
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Albanese’s Washington mission is to get AUKUS done
It would not be in Australia’s nor America’s interest for the prime minister to head to China next month with nothing to show on AUKUS from the trip to the White House.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Why the Middle East risks exploding
Anthony Albanese arrives in Washington as the Middle East crisis threatens to destabilise the entire region with unpredictable consequences.
- Jennifer Hewett
Economic ‘giant’ Max Corden dies, aged 96
One of Australia’s most influential economists, he was the intellectual thought leader behind cutting tariff protection in the 1970s and ’80s to help deliver today’s economic prosperity.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Globalisation
Spurn trade, and make ourselves poorer
The world needs to update its ideas about free trade, not uproot them.
- Richard Holden
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Unsustainable US debt is now looming on the horizon
Neither Biden nor Trump will reassure bond investors that America can cure its spending habits in time to prevent a crisis.
- Sam Wylie
Super fund CEOs put ASX on notice over workplace conditions
Industry super funds are using their $3.5 trillion asset pool to influence companies on decent work conditions, secure contracts and banning sexual harassment.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton
Biodiversity credits aim to help repair nature
The government is seeking to establish a nature repair market, with biodiversity credits creating a new asset class for investors.
- Christopher Niesche
